Iraqi Airways

The smiling flight attendants strode down the aisle of the Boeing 727 in crisp green uniforms, handing out cold cans of Sprite and pieces of cake. Just minutes earlier, the plane had leveled off after a steep corkscrew ascent from Baghdad International Airport. It was cruising at 23,000 feet. In one piece: no smoke trails from surface-to-air missiles, no rocket attacks, no mortar hits. Such is the scene aboard the Iraqi equivalent of the New York-to-Washington shuttle -- a 55-minute hop between Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra that costs $75 for a one-way coach ticket -- that flies over some of the deadliest territory in Iraq.

The smiling flight attendants strode down the aisle of the Boeing 727 in crisp green uniforms, handing out cold cans of Sprite and pieces of cake. Just minutes earlier, the plane had leveled off after a steep corkscrew ascent from Baghdad International Airport. It was cruising at 23,000 feet. In one piece: no smoke trails from surface-to-air missiles, no rocket attacks, no mortar hits. Such is the scene aboard the Iraqi equivalent of the New York-to-Washington shuttle -- a 55-minute hop between Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra that costs $75 for a one-way coach ticket -- that flies over some of the deadliest territory in Iraq.

Two attacks on vehicles carrying Iraqi women to their jobs Thursday morning claimed the lives of six women and one man and severely wounded more than a dozen people, witnesses and government officials said. Four of the women were killed when gunmen opened fire from a minivan that had pulled alongside a bus filled mostly with female employees of Iraqi Airways and the Civil Aviation Ministry on their way to work at Baghdad International Airport. One woman, a member of an airport cleaning crew, died at the scene and three others died after being rushed to a nearby hospital, according to an Iraqi Airways employee who was riding in a second bus. "Why are they shooting at us?"

Two attacks on vehicles carrying Iraqi women to their jobs Thursday morning claimed the lives of six women and one man and severely wounded more than a dozen people, witnesses and government officials said. Four of the women were killed when gunmen opened fire from a minivan that had pulled alongside a bus filled mostly with female employees of Iraqi Airways and the Civil Aviation Ministry on their way to work at Baghdad International Airport. One woman, a member of an airport cleaning crew, died at the scene and three others died after being rushed to a nearby hospital, according to an Iraqi Airways employee who was riding in a second bus. "Why are they shooting at us?"

Iraq Sunday identified two terrorists and 65 others killed on a hijacked plane that crash-landed in Saudi Arabia, while the Islamic Jihad released a photo of an American hostage and a warning not to blame it for the hijacking. In a statement issued in Beirut, the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad denied any involvement in the Christmas Day hijacking of the Iraqi Airways plane traveling from Iraq to Jordan and warned news agencies to avoid blaming it without proof. The statement was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of American hostage Terry Anderson.

Who does Rev. Jesse Jackson think he is? Is he a politician, multinational mediator, roaming television journalist, self-appointed diplomat or the conscience of the West? Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived in Washington recently aboard Iraqi Airways Flight 237 with 44 American hostages from Iraq and Kuwait. But in the process Jackson embarrassed himself, as the former democratic presidential hopeful dropped off two different groups of Western hostages in Paris and London, highlighting the shameless showman qualities that are Jesse Jackson.

In Chicago, fifteen bucks would just about get you halfway from the Loop to O'Hare in a taxi. But in Iraq -- where Saddam Hussein insists that he puts people before profits -- $15 cash gets you a comfy first-class seat on an Iraqi Airways nonstop to Basra. "Enjoy your flight," an Iraqi pilot said in perfect English after passengers boarded a worn but steady 727 for the 300-mile trip south. Of course, this being Iraq, what seems like a bargain trip comes with the unmentioned possibility of a deadly detour.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Iraqi government released about 100 German hostages on Sunday and indicated it was prepared to free dozens of Italians a day after Italy donated nearly 25 tons of medical supplies to Iraq. The Germans left Baghdad aboard an Iraqi Airways jet on Sunday afternoon, leaving behind about 50 other Germans who had arrived at the airport too late to join the flight, Western diplomats said. The diplomats said the other 50 Germans will probably leave Iraq on a chartered jet later this week.

The jet left Baghdad and had just crossed the ribbon of blue indicating the Euphrates River thousands of feet below when it arced back toward the Iraqi capital Wednesday. Upon the plane's landing at Baghdad's airport, a security guard came aboard and left with a high-profile passenger, parliament member Mohammed al-Dayni. But al-Dayni's whereabouts remain a mystery as the political clamor over his alleged crimes, everything from murder to gold heists, threatens to rev up sectarian polarization in parliament.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Security guards tried in vain to stop a hijacker from entering the cockpit of an Iraqi airliner, touching off an in-air gunbattle that forced the jet to crash land at a Saudi Arabian airstrip, witnesses said today. Former Jordanian Interior Minister Suleiman Arrar and other passengers aboard the plane recounted the hijacking and gunbattle that occurred Thursday aboard the burning Iraqi jet. "The whole drama was 22 minutes long from the minute I saw one of the hijackers storm the plane`s cockpit and when the plane crash landed, overturned, split almost in half and blew up in a ball of fire," Arrar recalled at his home in Amman.

In Chicago, fifteen bucks would just about get you halfway from the Loop to O'Hare in a taxi. But in Iraq -- where Saddam Hussein insists that he puts people before profits -- $15 cash gets you a comfy first-class seat on an Iraqi Airways nonstop to Basra. "Enjoy your flight," an Iraqi pilot said in perfect English after passengers boarded a worn but steady 727 for the 300-mile trip south. Of course, this being Iraq, what seems like a bargain trip comes with the unmentioned possibility of a deadly detour.

Who does Rev. Jesse Jackson think he is? Is he a politician, multinational mediator, roaming television journalist, self-appointed diplomat or the conscience of the West? Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived in Washington recently aboard Iraqi Airways Flight 237 with 44 American hostages from Iraq and Kuwait. But in the process Jackson embarrassed himself, as the former democratic presidential hopeful dropped off two different groups of Western hostages in Paris and London, highlighting the shameless showman qualities that are Jesse Jackson.

Iraq Sunday identified two terrorists and 65 others killed on a hijacked plane that crash-landed in Saudi Arabia, while the Islamic Jihad released a photo of an American hostage and a warning not to blame it for the hijacking. In a statement issued in Beirut, the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad denied any involvement in the Christmas Day hijacking of the Iraqi Airways plane traveling from Iraq to Jordan and warned news agencies to avoid blaming it without proof. The statement was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of American hostage Terry Anderson.

A bomb exploded aboard a TWA plane over Greece. Four died. Attackers raided a synagogue in Istanbul. The death toll: 22. A car bomb exploded in Beirut, and 32 perished. Grenades go off and a jet crash-lands in the Saudi Arabian desert. At least 62 died. Airports and embassies became fortresses. Tourism, particularly in Europe and the Middle East, fell sharply. But the repeated attacks during the last year also brought an increased willingness by the victims to retaliate. In particular, Western nations struck at Middle East states believed to be supporting, supplying and training terrorists.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- More than 1,000 foreigners, including 163 Americans, flew out of Iraq on Sunday after months either hiding in Kuwait or being held by the government of President Saddam Hussein. U.S. officials in Baghdad arranged the final evacuation of Americans and other foreigners by chartering an Iraqi Airways Boeing 747. The airliner left Saddam International Airport carrying 325 people leaving Iraq. The 163 Americans who had been prevented from leaving were accompanied by 13 other Americans who had recently come to Iraq to visit relatives held there.